The Bibliotheca Alexandrina (Latin, 'Library of Alexandria';[1] Arabic: مكتبة الإسكندرية, romanized: Maktabat al-’Iskandariyya, Egyptian Arabic pronunciation: [mækˈtæb(e)t eskendeˈɾejjæ]) (BA) is a major library and cultural center on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea in Alexandria, Egypt.

[2] The library offers shelf space for eight million books, and its main reading room spans 20,000 square meters (220,000 sq ft).

[4][non-primary source needed] The first pledges were made for funding the project at a conference held in 1990 in Aswan along the upper Nile River with US$65 million, mostly from the MENA states.

[5][6][7] The Internet Archive donated US$5 million to the BA, including 10 billion web pages from over 16 million sites, 2000 hours of Egyptian and U.S. television broadcasts, 1000 archival films, 100 terabytes of data stored on 200 computers, and a bookscanning facility for local books.

The library has shelf space for eight million books,[9] with the main reading room covering 20,000 square metres (220,000 sq ft) on eleven cascading levels.

The complex also houses a conference center; specialized libraries for maps, multimedia, the blind and visually impaired, young people, and for children; four museums;[9] four art galleries for temporary exhibitions; 15 permanent exhibitions; a planetarium;[9] and a manuscript restoration laboratory.

The main reading room stands beneath a 32-meter-high glass-panelled roof, tilted out toward the sea like a sundial, and measuring some 160 m in diameter.

[11] The Taha Hussein Library contains materials for the blind and visually impaired using special software that makes it possible for readers to read books and journals.

It is named after Taha Hussein, the Egyptian professor of Arabic and literary critic who was himself blinded at the age of three.

The collection includes underwater antiquities from the Mediterranean seabed near the Eastern Harbour and the Bay of Abukir.

[28] While the library was shut down during the 2011 Egyptian revolution, young adults were seen in a circle around the building to protect against looters and vandals.

[31] The building's architecture (which imitates a rising sun) upset some who believed too much money was being spent on construction rather than the library's actual collection.